Abstract

The development of massive agro-hydraulic systems is a feature that characterises the Late Intermediate Period in the South-Central Andes. Their emergence has been discussed in connection with several historical processes, such as the social aggregation of communities and the rise of leadership and complex technologies. The incorporation of these territories under the Inka regime around 1.450 C.E. implied the intensification of the local production and the expansion of these agro-hydraulic systems, as discussed in several Southern Andes regions. In this talk, we will explore the historical trajectory of two agro-hydraulic systems in the Atacama Desert of Chile (Paniri and Topain), evaluating how they worked and were connected with the social and political dynamics of the local communities before and after the Inka annexation of this territory. To do this, we discuss how these systems promoted an ecology of practices among humans and non-humans (Earth-Beings) and a particular field of historical relations where the political power, agencies and affectivities were distributed among humans and Earth-Beings (Cosmo-Politics). In this frame, while the Late Intermediate Period agrarian practices remarked the relevance and political significance of Mountains-Earth-Beings, during the Late Period they highlighted the role of the Inka as a mediator among humans, Mountains-Earth-Beings and the water.